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Friday’s News & Notes

Team Yesterday Today Probable Pitchers
Syracuse Won, 5-4 (10 inn.) @ Rochester,
7:05 p.m.		 Espino (3-4, 2.78) vs.
T. Rogers (7-8, 3.60)
Harrisburg Lost, 5-4 @ Portland,
7:05 p.m.		 Purke (0-1, 16.20) vs.
Haley (4-11, 5.38)
Potomac Lost, 4-3 vs. Salem,
7:05 p.m.		 Lopez (5-6, 4.62) vs.
McAvoy (5-9, 4.40)
Hagerstown Won, 8-6 @ Hickory,
7:00 p.m.		 Van Orden (5-4, 3.09) vs.
Y. Mendez (2-1, 1.45)
Auburn Won, 6-1 vs. Hudson Valley,
7:05 p.m.		 Crownover (0-4, 6.75) vs.
Yepez (2-1, 3.19)


Syracuse 5 Buffalo 4 (10 inn.)
• Jordan 6IP, 4H, 0R, BB, 4K
• Martin (W, 5-5) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Turner 3-5, R, 3B, 3RBI, SB
• Lerud 3-5, RBI
• Ramsey 2-3, 2R, 2BB, SB

What won’t surprise you is that the bullpen blew a four-run lead in the 9th and lost it in the 10th. What will surprise you is that it was Buffalo’s relievers, not Syracuse’s that imploded to turn a 4-0 lead into a 5-4 extra-innings loss. Steven Lerud’s third single of the night was the gamewinner, putting Rafael Martin even at 5-5 in the won-loss columns for his scoreless 10th inning. Taylor Jordan started and turned in six shutout innings, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out four. Trea Turner matched Lerud’s 3-for-5 mark but also tripled and drove in three.
Roster move: C Jeff Howell reassigned to GCL Nationals.

Portland 5 Harrisburg 4
• Voth 1⅓ IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, K (rain delay)
• Bacus 4IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, BB, 2K
• Mendez (L, 4-3) ⅓ IP, 1H, R, ER, 0BB, K, HR
• Bostick 2-4, 2RBI
• D. Robinson 1-2, BB, 2RBI

Gilberto Mendez fit the usual script as he served up a walkoff homer to Portland’s Aneury Tavarez with nobody out in the 9th in Harrisburg’s 5-4 loss. Austin Voth started but was lifted after a 98-minute delay. He gave up two runs over an inning and a 1/3rd on two hits and two walks. Dakota Bacus followed with four innings but was charged with two runs when Bryan Harper let in both inherited runners. The Senators, who scored three in the 2nd, tied it in the 7th on Christopher Bostick’s second RBI single of the night. Derrick Robinson also drove in two and drew a walk as the Sens collected eight hits total.

Myrtle Beach 4 Potomac 3
• Rauh 6IP, 5H, R, ER, 0BB, 4K
• M. Rodriguez (BS, 2; L, 1-3) ⅓ IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, BB, 0K, HR, 3-1 IR-S
• Bautista 4-5, R
• Mesa 2-5, RBI, SB

Ditto for Potomac’s Manny Rodriguez, who let in one of three inherited runners in the 8th, then served up a two-run shot in the 9th to turn a 3-1 lead into a 4-3 loss to Myrtle Beach. Brian Rauh turned in a quality start of one run on five hits over six innings without a walk and four strikeouts. Tablesetters Rafael Bautista and Narciso Mesa combined for six of the 11 hits Potomac registered for the game.

Hagerstown 8 Hickory 6
• Bach (W, 4-2) 5IP, 3H, 0R, 2BB, 6K
• Williams ⅓ IP, 4H, 6R, 4ER, BB, 0K, 0HR
• Orlan ⅔ IP, 1H, 0R, BB, 1K, 3-3 IR-S
• Mejia 4-5, R, 3B, 2RBI, SB(5)
• Carey 3-4, R, 2RBI
• Marmolejos-Diaz 2-5, 2R

Deion Williams and R.C. Orlan almost played the part, but Hagerstown’s seven-run lead was just large enough for them to make it interesting in an 8-6 win over Hickory. Connor Bach’s five shutout innings, with three hits and two walks allowed, weren’t erased as the 23-y.o. southpaw earned his fourth win and struck out six. Bryan Mejia led the Suns’ 13-hit parade with a 4-for-5 night, followed by D.K. Carey’s 3-for-4 line.

Auburn 6 Aberdeen 1
• Fedde (W, 3-1) 5IP, 7H, R, ER, BB, 2K
• Gunter (H, 1) 2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Robles 2-4, R, 3B, CS
• Gutierrez 2-4, R

Sorry, the snark ends here. The Doubledays broke open a 2-1 game with a four-run 3rd and the bullpen no-hit the Ironbirds for four innings to secure a 6-1 win and take the series, 2-1. Erick Fedde got the win with five innings of one-run ball, scattering seven hits, walking one, and striking out two. Cody Gunter (2IP), Kevin Mooney (1IP), and Tommy Peterson (1IP) each earned holds. Victor Robles and Kelvin Gutierrez both went 2-for-4 with a run scored to pace the Auburn attack.

17 Commments

  1. Does anybody know whether scouts were at the Auburn game to watch Fedde pitch? I don’t expect Mike Rizzo to do anything else before the deadline, but he certainly is cagy. If another team’s scouts were at the game, then another big move could be in the works.

    1. Agreed
      Jeff Thurston Howell down to GCL to teach
      Em part wisdom to kids. Good OG guy
      You get the feeling that come next year
      Nats will still go with guys in org. Carey and
      Rodrieguez @ Potnats for R/R outfielders ??
      Harrisburg. Raffie Mesa and Wooten .

    2. Other than the 2 Reds scouts balllyhooed by Rosenthal? He probably has a scout or two every game. He is a top prospect after all? This kid is good. To get him from Rizzo it would have to be Aroldis Chapman. Then? Watch Rizzo stretch him out and start him again.

  2. So at what point do we start to get excited about 18-year old Victor Robles hitting .370/.458 /597 this season?

  3. How about Bryan Harper? I wrote him off after his dreadful first season as a small favor to Bryce. But he’s gotten better in each successive season. It would be pretty cool to see him get some playtime with his brother in September or next season.

    1. He’s not on the 40-man roster, so no way he gets called up this year. He also doesn’t have a great strikeout rate, and that will be a huge impediment.

      On the other hand, if he has his brother’s work ethic he could keep plugging away until he makes the big club someday as a LOOGY.

  4. Some Nats snippets from Kiley McDaniel’s Fangraphs chat:

    Q: Is V. Robles another guy who has made a big leap into one of your lists?
    A: ENORMOUS leap, yes thanks for reminding me. Could be top 50 in baseball, easy top 100. Teams were asking about him and couldn’t pry him loose in the last few months. Anthony Alford is another one that was off the top 200 and will be top 100 now.

    Q: I haven’t seen any scouting reports about Erick Fedde this season, but his numbers look really good. Does he still look like a potential #4 now that he’s back and healthy?
    A: Talked to a scout that saw him recently and sounds like the stuff is all the way back. Will be moving up the list. #2/3 upside.

    That should be Giolito, Turner, Lopez, Robles, Fedde and maybe Ross (depending on eligibility) in the top 100 next season, and all but Lopez look like they’ll be in the top 50.

    Not bad.

    1. One more tidbit which is interesting, but not surprising for us, the enlightened:

      Q: Now that Giolito is at AA, how quickly will he move? Is ASB next year a reasonable ETA for his big league debut?
      A: Nats told me last offseason that once a guy is at AA, he could be called up at any time and the reigns are off. That’s a decent guess.

  5. I would think think that Fedde will be moving to Hagerstown soon, perhaps with Bach promoted to Potomac. It would be fun for Robles to get a month in Hagerstown, too, and/or in the AZ fall league.

    Does anyone have recent velocity numbers on Bryan Harper? When he came out of college, he couldn’t crack 90, despite his size. He certainly has persevered, though, and has been strong at Harrisburg this year.

    1. I’ve seen him a few times at Harrisburg this season, and, without having my notebook handy, I want to say that I’ve seen him hit low 90s on the stadium radar gun. Of course, this is the same stadium radar gun that clocked Matt Purke at 101 on Sunday, so it may not be accurate.

    2. BHarp the elder hasn’t had the year he had at Potomac. Passed by de Los Santos and Mendez.

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